Eye Exercises for Astigmatism

1-Rectus muscle relaxation

Rectus muscle relaxation

The rectus eye muscle can come into considerable strain over time, and astigmatism might be the result of a weak or tight rectus muscle. The rectus muscle relaxation exercise is done by gradually and gently relaxing the eye rectus muscles. The exercise should be done in the following steps:

Put your thumb in front of your face just above the nose (about 10cm)

Move your thumb as if it is running on a clock. First slowly move your thumb to 12 o’clock where it will disappear and leave it there for 2–3 seconds.

If you experience tension here, that’s okay. Return to the initial nose spot and move back to 1 o’clock then again to 3,5,6,7,9, 11 and back to noon.

From the center out, don’t forget to breathe. Exhaling slowly will help relax your muscles.

4-SPHERE VISUALIZATION

Imagine that you are looking at a small, eye-size sphere made of, for instance, rubber, which is situated in the right eye or just above.

Now, try to change the sphere with your imagination as if you were clenching it with the fingers of one hand on its right and left side. Imagine that the sphere changes slightly its shape into elliptic and oval, and that the fingers release the pressure and the sphere comes back to its perfectly spherical shape. Repeat this step 5-10 times.

Now, imagine that you are clenching the sphere from up and down (again 5-10 times), and then from front and back (also 5-10 times).

Repeat steps 1-3 for the left eye.

During this exercise, you should have a feeling of slight activity of the rectus muscles in your eyes, which will largely release their tension and both the cornea and the whole eye should begin to assume the perfect spherical shape.